Thursday, April 19, 2007

Green - Liberal Alliance in St. Catharines?

The St. Catharines Standard reports that local Greens are considering backing former St. Catharines Liberal MP and current Liberal candidate Walt Lastewka in his bid to win back the riding frm Conservative MP Rick Dykstra who won the last election by just 246 votes.

From the story:

“If Mr. Lastewka comes out in favour of proportional representation and pollution taxes, then I think he would get our endorsement,” Fannon said. “This is not about doing something to get the other guy, it’s about creating better policies for Canadians.”

Given that Lastewka was one of a handful of Liberal MPs to vote against equal marriage and anti-scab legislation, and has not been a proponent of electoral reform, I could hardly see Greens being able to justify him as a "progressive" candidate.

Despite the optimism of some, I know a handful of Greens in Niagara, and I suspect this deal won't happen, largely because the Greens have been so critical of Lastewka and the Liberal record in the past. This will truly be an important test to see whether or not rank-and-file Greens support the collaboration strategy of their leader.

1 comment:

who knows, maybe he will have a thought transplant, but beyond that, all I have to say, is that it is their riding call. Of course, as an social democrat,why vote for an imitation if you can have the real thing. But we are not even in an election yet, and the liberals are already pulling off - vote for us cause we are progressive and we keep our promises (wink, wink, nod, nod).